A Night Out With The Flash
by Carf
Summary: Team Flash can't be all serious all the time, sometimes they need to blow off a little steam. A series of one shots following Team Flash off duty. Featuring: Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, HR, Julian and frequently alcohol. There will be lots of humor and bonding and long conversations. I might sprinkle in a bit of romance as well. Ch3: Caitlin and Julian don't go on a date
1. Celebrity Cheat Lists

"So," Cisco started, eyeing Barry. "I guess you guys have reached the stage of drawing up your celebrity cheat list, right?" Barry raised an eyebrow.

"A what?" Julian asked, leaning over the table as he peeled the label off his beer.

Team Flash was out at a bar, another one on another night. They did this when the crush became too much and the days became too hectic. It was a time to remember that they weren't just Team Flash. They were friends in their 20's and sometimes, at least Cisco thought, they should actually try to enjoy that.

So it was them in McSweeney's: Barry, Iris, Julian, Caitlin, and Cisco. They had all taken a shot practically as soon as they walked in and were now on to beer. Cisco's pleasingly had a demon shark on it. That's what he loved about microbrews, they always had a good sense of humor. Barry was nursing a soda since he didn't believe in wasting money on alcohol that wasn't going to do him any good, or ill depending on how you looked at it. Barry and Iris were as usual standing as close to humanly possible to one another and looking blissfully happy. Cisco wasn't sure what was up with Julian and Caitlin but by their own arrangement something was there. Not that Caitlin had told him if they had hooked up or not which probably meant they hadn't unless Caitlin had started withholding that sort of information. So Cisco was fourth wheeling, probably. Typical. Almost made a guy wonder if he should rethink his type of hot and dangerous. They didn't tend to stick around.

"Like a list you agree on with your partner of celebrities you can sleep with if you get the chance without it counting. Like for me it would be maybe Catherine Zeta Jones and Michelle Rodriguez, and uh… Sarah Michelle Gellar. Ya know if I was dating anyone, that is."

Caitlin bumped his shoulder good naturedly.

"Nerd."

"What? Who would you have?" he asked teasingly.

"Uh, I don't know. Does that hot weatherman on Channel 6 count?"

"I'll allow it," Iris said. Cisco smiled, everyone was apparently very invested in this now.

"Okay, then him and any of the Chrises from the MCU," Caitlin continued.

"How many Chrises are there?" Iris asked.

"There's Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and… Chris Pratt," Cisco counted them off on his fingers. Then, looked up at the group of them, staring. "What? I don't want to bang them I just like the movies," he paused and cocked his head for a second in thought. "Well, okay, I would. They're really built." The table broke out in laughter.

"Yeah well I would too. Julian," Caitlin poked him in the arm. "Your turn." He smiled and took a swig of his beer. Around them the bar was filling up as the night wore on. So alt rock was playing quietly in the background.

"Pippa Middleton," he muttered, hanging his head and was he blushing? This was too good.

"My word, the Queen's grand-daughter-in-law's sister?" Cisco attempted in a terrible British accent. "I'm surprised at you, Bond."

"Fuck you," Julian responded though he could barely get through it between his near silent chuckles.

"A classy choice, Bond," Barry said toasting with his soda.

"Okay back to the only people who are actually dating, Barry, Iris?" Cisco lifted his eyebrows at them. Barry lifted his eyebrows right back, contorting his face at Cisco. They stared into eachother's eyes unblinkingly until Barry couldn't hold it anymore. Staring contests were easy to win against speedsters, it felt a lot longer to them.

"Okay, fine," Barry relented. He looked at Iris. "Do you want to go first?"

"Let's say it together."

"Okay, on three then. One, two, three. Supergirl!"

"Green Arrow!"

The appropriate sound effect to follow would have been either a loud WAH, WAH or maybe just crickets. There was silence and then Caitlin nearly choked on her drink like it had taken her a second to process and freak out.

"What?"

"You know them, though," Julian said confused.

"Uh, yeah I think the principle behind it is that they're kind of unattainable not people you could call up right now and invite over," Cisco pointed out.

"But Kara lives on another earth!"

"And I've never actually spoken to Oliver! I only just found out he was the Green Arrow!"

"Still, it's a little close to home. You might as well just put us on it too," Caitlin said, laughing.

"Unless… that was their plan all along! I knew it! They're trying to get us drunk so they can have their wicked way with us," Cisco shouted maybe a little too loudly. Julian practically slammed his head into the table, his fist shoved in his mouth to stifle his laughter. The table rocked and Caitlin's beer tipped over.

"Stop! I've already spilled half of this," Caitlin cried in mock exasperation as she righted it. Her face was flush and lit with an energy Cisco hadn't seen in a long time.

"Not with that attitude," Iris said with pursed lips.

Barry cupped his hands around his mouth. "Go home, Cisco, you're drunk!"

"Not nearly enough." He turned to bartender who was scooping up drinks from a nearby abandoned table. "Camarero! Another round, tequila shots!"

"If I have to run you guys home…" Barry shook his head, menacingly.

"Don't tempt us, BA," Julian muttered under his breath but loud enough to hear. Cisco let out a whoop and high fived him across the table. Julian grinned reluctantly.

"Iris, my friends are flirting with me," Barry whined. She smiled and pulled him closer by his jacket.

"I don't blame them, Barr. Getting swept up in your arms is very romantic. No wonder your villains keep coming back."

"Aww shucks, you always say the sweetest things, hon." He leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth.

"Eww, cooties!" Cisco lept back, holding his index fingers in the shape of a cross. Barry looked up, arms still wrapped around Iris.

"A second ago you were proposing an office orgy."

"I changed my mind, y'all are gross."

"More for me then, I guess," Iris said, drawing Barry down for another kiss.

Caitlin bumped him as the tequila shots arrived.

"Shut up, San Francisco."

They ended up toasting the shots to HR and his nicknames and ordering another round. At the end of the night when they stumbled out into a cold drizzling rain, Caitlin wrapped her arms around Cisco and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Cisco. This was a great idea and you're quite the entertainer." She was as hot as a furnace. Cisco returned the sideways hug with a squeeze of her hand.

"I try."

Later, when Barry was dumping him unceremoniously on his couch, Cisco looked up at him.

"You know we love you, right? And no matter what we've got your back." Barry smiled gently.

"Yeah, I know, man."

"But seriously, Supergirl? She'd tear you in half if Iris didn't do it first."

"I don't know. Iris… she's a bit more... flexible than meets the eye."

"Really, so if I wanted to…" He trailed off, only half joking. Barry smiled knowingly. All smiles, that guy. At least for tonight.

"Master the salmon ladder and I'll get back to you."

Cisco tried to stutter out a response but Barry was already gone. In a flash.


	2. Stargazing

**Due to a positive response on my last fic (thanks everybody!) I thought I would write a little more slice of life stuff for Team Flash. It's the kind of thing I wish the show would do more of because while I love the action I like the characters so much I wish they got more time to spend together.**

Central City had a strange quality to it. One which wasn't mentioned in most of the guide books but was widely known as a sort of local quirk. By some fluke of construction, most of the city's lights were directed entirely upward so just outside the city limits if you faced away from it the whole sky opened up without a hint of light pollution. It had always amazed Cisco how dark it could get just 20 minutes outside of town but here he was setting up his telescope by headlamp.

It was a recent addition to the usual slate of activities for Team Flash. Usual activities being going out drinking and movie nights. Cisco was trying to organize them to go out to actual movie theaters and watch new movies since they were quickly burning through his rather extensive DVD collection and apparently _Arrival_ was pretty damn good, but it hadn't worked out too well. While Barry's cheapness was a bit of a surprise, it really shouldn't have shocked Cisco that Caitlin was horrified at the very idea of bringing him into a movie theater.

"But you'll talk through the whole movie, Cisco. That's so rude." She'd actually been squirming in her seat the whole time they were at the outdoor screening with Joe and Cecile, which only encouraged him to talk more. The embarrassment had almost distracted her from the whole Killer Frost thing. At least until Shade showed up to ruin it.

So in hopes of getting them to do something else together, Cisco had suggested they go star gazing. It had been a favorite activity of his back when he was just a young nerd who dreamed of being an astronaut and reenacting Star Trek. One of the few things he and Dante had actually enjoyed doing together when they were little if only because they spent most of the time without saying a word to one another. He thought it could be a fun thing to connect them now, in the wake of everything. But Barry and Iris had not entirely unexpectedly bailed since they had you know couply things to do, Wally had homework since he was still a student and well Julian was a bit of a workaholic it seemed. So it was just the three of them. The ones with nothing and no one to go home to. Not even cats, just IKEA furniture waiting in empty apartments. Well, HR didn't even have an apartment. He was living deep in the bowels of STAR Labs on Harry's recently vacated cot.

"This was an excellent idea, Francisco. Looking at stars, magnificent! Though on my earth it was more of a romantic activity than something to be done with one's compatriots," HR called as he tossed down a cooler full of beers. Caitlin chuckled as she spread out a picnic blanket on the ground. Around them the summer air was charged with the sounds of insects and night birds. The distant shadows of trees swayed in a slight breeze on the other side of the field.

"Actually, it's that on this earth too. Or at least an excuse for making out."

"Um, excuse me. I would never do such a thing. The stars are serious business. There's supposed to be meteor showers tonight and Venus is finally in the right position to view," Cisco huffed indignantly.

"Ah, the star of love. I'm afraid you might be sending mixed signals there, my friend." Somehow Cisco could actually hear HR's raised eyebrows in his voice since he couldn't actually see them in the dark.

"Not this joke again!" Caitlin groaned and threw herself down on the blanket. "If we're going to start this again, pass me a beer."

"Again?" HR asked.

Cisco said "Don't ask!" at the same time that Caitlin said "Cisco's been trying to start an orgy for years."

"I have not! You guys are nowhere near threatening enough to interest me," Cisco said spinning around to face them and blinding Caitlin with his let out a yelp and held up a hand to block the light.

"Aw, yes. I've definitely seen your type, Francisco. Since you, you know, tried to ask my would-be murderer on a date. In front of me. Right after she shot me."

"Yeah, well watch it. I might call her back to come get you just so we can have that date."

"You know, Francisco, when you say things like that I wonder if you're really invested in the date we're on right now."

"Annnnd it's back," Caitlin muttered. Cisco chuckled and went to grab a beer from the cooler. He twisted off the top with a pop and a carbonated fizz. They had probably packed too many if they were planning on driving back but the great thing about Barry was he didn't even have to be there to be the designated driver. Except that he was a phenomenally bad driver. That was a bit of a problem. He fished another beer out from the ice and brought it over to Caitlin.

"Scoot over," he said moving to sit beside her on the picnic blanket. She did and accepted the beer with a muttered thanks.

HR remained standing, his dark figure silhouetted against the bright stars. The whole of the milky way stretched out over his head in the moonless sky. Cisco wondered what it was about Harrison Wells' and wearing black all the time.

"This reminds me of when I was covering the Greco-Turkish War in '03. I was out in the desert all night, sleeping under the stars and it would get so quiet it was like you could actually hear the earth for once. Well, between the artillery shellings that is."

"You were a reporter?" Caitlin asked, clearly deciding not to ask about how a war from 1897 had ended up taking place in 2003 on Earth 19.

"A lot of great writers started out as reporters. It teaches you to keep deadlines but I never really liked it. They always wanted you to keep your opinions out of it. I can't tell you how many times my editor yelled at me for adding in my own judgements or waxing poetic. But that's really all I wanted to do." Cisco laughed. Yeah, that sounded like HR alright. "What?"

"Nothing," Cisco responded. "It's just you don't usually tell us that much about yourself."

"I guess I just don't think the actual version of my life is as interesting as what I can make up."

"It sounds pretty interesting to me," Caitlin said, patting the spot on the other side of her. There was something about the dark that made people feel like telling and hearing stories, Cisco had noticed. Flashing white teeth, HR dropped down beside them with that characteristic childlike energy of his. Sometimes Cisco couldn't help but think of the older man like he was their collective kid. Maybe that was where that sudden rush of protectiveness which drove him into a battle to the death had come from. When Caitlin scooted over to make room, bumping into Cisco's shoulder, he got the sense that she felt the same way. Well, what a weird group they were.

Cisco switched off his headlamp, plunging them into darkness and took a sip of his beer. It was an unusually yeasty and foamy brand, apparently one of Cait's favorites. Not quite to his taste but good enough on a cool summer night.

"Mmm, this is almost as good as coffee!" HR laughed out with a load smack of his lips. Caitlin giggled in response.

"Thanks, I picked it out myself. They make it with vanilla apparently. Ronnie discovered it when he had an engineering conference in Coast City and brought some home with him. I've been a fan ever since."

HR took a long swallow. Good God, Cisco thought, he's chugging it.

"Well, he had really good taste."

"Yeah, he did. For beer and pizza mainly," Caitlin replied. Cisco got the sense that she might have been blushing but it was hard to tell in the dark. It had been a long time since she'd talked about Ronnie. Cisco spent a lot of time tip toeing around the subject himself, but HR had a way of making people feel at ease even if he was incredibly aggravating half the time.

"Sounds like my kind of guy. I wish I could have met him."

"Me too," now Caitlin's voice had a hint of wistfulness to it but still happier than he would have expected. Cisco wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. She leaned into him comfortably.

"So, uh, HR what was it like being a war correspondent?" Cisco asked trying to redirect the conversation.

"Oh, stupendous! I thought I was going to die half the time," a grin coming through clearly in his voice. "I always wanted to be a soldier when I was a boy so I thought I would get a taste of it. I don't think I'm really cut out for it, though. I like fictional violence a lot more than actual violence. Anyways, that's actually where I met Randolph. He was a technical advisor for the League of Nations' peacekeeping force. We hit it off right away. I guess you could say he took me under his wing. When we got back to the States, we came up with the idea for STAR Labs. Randolph was such a brilliant scientist but he could never really run a business. Talking to the press, to stockholders, even employees it all gave him anxiety. So I handled all that and became 'HR Wells, the genius'. He was always such a good friend to me. I wish I could have been a better one in return."

"It sounds to me like you were," Caitlin said. "You did what he couldn't and he did what you couldn't. That's how the best partnerships work I've always found."

"I suppose but it always felt like I was just taking credit for all his hard work. He's better off without me."

"I'll admit, HR, when you first came here I thought the same thing. But now. Well I'm just really glad you're here. You're a bigger help than you know."

"Aw shucks. Thanks, Cisco." Cisco got the feeling HR didn't really take him seriously but what could he do? He had said somethings that he still regretted and he couldn't take them back. He just had to move forward and try to be more honest.

"Okay, let's drink some more before this turns into a total sobfest," Caitlin grumbled as she stood up to retrieve more drinks from the cooler. So it seemed they would probably need to call Barry to pick them up after all. In the middle of the night. Yeah, they were great friends.

Several beers later, they were all laying on their backs watching the stars. A flurry of bright streaks crossed the sky. They were just pebbles burning up in the earth's atmosphere but they still took Cisco's breath away. He could only imagine what ancient peoples used to think of them, back when the sky was the only show in town.

"Burning in the night. Tiny lights in the soul's darkest hours. The earth turns and quakes but the sky, the sky it rules. Out beyond these stars stretch a million, billion hearts with languages we'll never know. How is it that we feel so alone in a universe that breaths, consumes us like a living animal?"

Cisco laughed aloud. "HR was that poetry?"

"A little bit."

"I didn't know you wrote poetry."

"I'm a man of many talents, Francisco. Ambrose Bierce, you know, was a journalist, a novelist, and a poet."

Cisco turned to Caitlin. He was just able to make out the shape of her face now that his eyes were adjusted to the dark. She smiled curiously at him.

"Do you know who the hell Ambrose Bierce is?"

"Not a clue."

"Oh, come on! _The Old Gringo_ is my favorite movie. He's up there with Elvis and Tupac of people who might still be alive."

"I literally have no idea what you're talking about."

"You've never even heard of my literary hero. Unbelievable! Now I wish I hadn't shared my poetry with you, ingrates."

Caitlin and Cisco laughed unapologetically. The crickets seemed to agree.

It wasn't until Cisco woke up with a terrible taste in his mouth, a crick in his neck, and a face full of dew that he realized they had forgotten to call Barry. The birds were obnoxiously loud and he had a raging hangover which wasn't helped by sleeping on the ground all night. It was an unholy time in the morning but the sun didn't look like it was going to go back down out of politeness. He turned to look at Caitlin as she stirred.

"Fuck."

"Yeah, fuck, indeed," he agreed.

"We fell asleep."

"Yes."

"Where's HR?" Cisco turned, searching. Oh, there he was. Peeing in the bushes. Lovely.

HR trotted back over. His smile was way too bright.

"Hey, guys I think we fell asleep. Let's get some coffee." For once, that sounded like an excellent idea to Cisco.

Barry gave them all a weird look when they rolled into the Cortex with leaves in their hair.

"So I guess the orgy did happen after all. I thought that was a joke."

"Shut the fuck up, BA," Caitlin growled.

 **So thanks for reading! Please leave a review, I'd love to hear what you thought. I think I'm owed that since I wrote this instead of an English paper. You know if you want. No pressure. Even just ask me who Ambrose Bierce is.**


	3. A First Not-Date

**So here's Chapter 3. Thanks everyone for the reviews, likes, and favorites. You're all the best. Anyway, you might have noticed I reposted the previous chapters with some edits. I felt I was burying the lead a bit too much and also screwed up with some grammatical errors since I wrote them pretty late at night, so I think they're a bit better now. Anyways this takes place immediately at the end of 3x12 "Untouchable".**

Over the years, Caitlin had accumulated a mental database of most of the bars and drinking establishments within a five mile radius of STAR Labs and her home. She wasn't an alcoholic, or at least she told herself she wasn't, but in the last three years there had been a lot of reasons for a good stiff drink. So she knew where to go on the nights when she couldn't sleep all alone in the ruins of the life she had built with Ronnie. And she knew where to go when Team Flash had just pulled off another stunning victory or startlingly defeat. She knew the sports bar where Cisco dragged her to watch the World Cup and she knew the pub with the deep booths where Barry liked to go when he was beaten black and blue.

What she didn't know was where to take a guy for a drink after he talked you down from killing your friend through negligence. What exactly you were supposed to do when you were buzzing with gratitude and no small case of the butterflies while your stomach was still roiling with inescapable guilt. Being stuck in the elevator with said guy while you were working this through your head didn't help.

Julian rocked back and forth on his heels, hand gripped tightly on the strap of his bag.

"So uh I don't have a car…" he trailed off, pointedly not looking at her.

"We can take mine," she said simply still running through the calculations in her head.

"Actually, I don't know how to drive. I just take the train or the bus or Uber everywhere." He was rambling nervously, Caitlin realized. So this was already off to a great start. Still she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Really?"

"Well, I grew up in the city and my family had a driver and England has better mass transport than America. So I never learned and then I guess I felt to old to start."

"Wasn't that a problem though? What with all the globetrotting and Indiana Jones-ing?"

"It wasn't exactly that exciting. But, yes, it was a bit of a problem," he admitted sheepishly. He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and smiled at her. Her heart pounded a little harder at the sight of his crinkled blue eyes.

"Well, maybe I could teach you sometime," she blurted out without thinking. "In my little turquoise Fiat. It's a stick shift." She tried not grimace as the words came out of her mouth. Who cared what color it was?

"Well, that wouldn't be emasculating at all," Julian muttered.

"I didn't uh I mean… you don't have to... I was… just," Caitlin fumbled, turning bright red even as a threat of anger worked its way through her.

Julian spun toward her then and grabbed her flapping hands.

"No, I didn't mean. That, that was a joke? I was trying to make a joke. I would love to. I was just trying to be funny. You know I'm still working on my interpersonal skills."

"Right, yeah. I know. I might need to too."

Caitlin looked down at their joined hands. His were warmer and rougher than she expected. One of his thumbs rested on the pulse point of her wrist. It send a surprising thrill through her as he moved it in slow, small circles. Dammit, if she wasn't falling for him. Deep down she knew this would end badly if she continued down this path, if she let herself keep indulging these feelings. It always did, but she wasn't sure if she could stop herself. Julian caught her looking and swallowed hollowly before abruptly dropping her hands and turning on his heel to face the front of the elevator. He tugged on his already loose tie.

"Is there something wrong with the elevator? I don't think it's moving."

Caitlin tried to recover quickly from the sudden lose of his warmth and catch the shift in conversation. She looked at the control panel of the elevator car, shaking her head as if clearing cobwebs from her brain.

"Um, we didn't tell it to go down."

"Right! Obviously, we need to tell it to go down," he reached across her to tap the button for the first floor and the elevator lurched into motion. "I knew that."

Caitlin burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just we're so bad at this." He looked at her for a second, considering then he shook his head and snorted.

"You might be right about that."

In the parking lot, Caitlin fumbled to get her keys out of her purse. Julian stood on the passenger side with his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched against the wind. It was getting colder in the evenings and he was under dressed.

"It's not turquoise," he said.

"What?"

"It's not turquoise, it's celeste. The signature color of Bianchi bikes? Which makes sense seeing as Fiat is also Italian."

Caitlin paused with her hand still stuck in her bag and just looked at him. Meeting her gaze, Julian's ears turned red.

"Sorry, I think I talk too much when I'm nervous and say dumb things. I have a few drawbacks."

"I have some of those too. Apparently, I don't know anything about colors. Also, I'm slowly turning into an ice monster."

"I have a brain connection with an evil speedster who may or may also be a Hindu god."

"Wow, that's fucked up," Caitlin said, a smile stretching across her face despite herself.

"Yeah, what the bloody hell is wrong with us?" He was smiling too. They were both laughing again when they piled into her tiny car. Who knew it could be this much fun not knowing what you were doing? It almost made up for how derailed her life had become, not quite, but there was the feeling like someday it could.


End file.
